| Red tape ruins Henson's London dream • Henson wants move and argues his Ospreys contract is void• Wales centre's contention is disputed by OspreysGavin Henson's desire to play for a Premiership club in London this season hinges on whether his solicitor can establish that his contract with Ospreys, which runs until the end of the season, is void because he has not been on the payroll for more than a year.The 28-year-old Henson had hoped to be playing in the Premiership this month, but opted to take up an offer to compete in Strictly Come Dancing after Ospreys refused to tear up his contract and disputed the contention that it was no longer valid. The Welsh region today said they would listen to offers for the Wales and Lions centre but would not release him for nothing.The stance all but rules out Henson's hopes of a move to London because any transfer fee paid would be part of the Premiership's £4.1m salary cap, not just his wages. "We have not heard from anybody," the Ospreys' elite performance director, Andrew Hore, said. "If there is a club that wants to give us a call, we can sit down with them and Gavin's representatives and see where we get to."Ospreys are privately furious with Henson for trying to get out of his contract after the region had given him 14 months off so he could get over a series of injuries and spend time with his family. He sent an email at the beginning of July saying he was ready to play again this season.But at a meeting with the Ospreys' directors at the end of the month, he asked for his contract to be ripped up. When asked if Henson would guarantee that he would not play rugby for anyone else before May 2011, he did not give an answer and the discussions ended.Ospreys then had a letter from a firm of solicitors in Leicester, the city where Henson's agent, Matt Ginvert, is based, arguing that the player was free to talk to other clubs because his contract with the region was no longer effective given the length of time he had been unpaid.Henson, believing he was a free agent, became linked with Wasps. He denied this week that he had spoken to the club, or anyone else, but admitted that he had expected to be playing in the Premiership at the start of the season."I wanted the Ospreys to say that my contract is void and I think it is because they have not paid me for so long," said Henson. "They are dragging their heels on it and if it proves to be that the contract is still in place and I have to go back there I will do so. It is a pity it has got to all this."My solicitors are trying to establish whether I am a free agent. If I am, my agent will go and speak to clubs. London would be a good place for me at the moment. I have not spoken to anyone but that will all come in good time. We are having to work on the contract side of things and that is why I went to Strictly Come Dancing."Independent legal experts say the issue is complicated. Ordinarily, a contract would be void if an employee stopped receiving his or her wages, but in Henson's case it was he who asked for the unpaid leave of absence and it has always been the Ospreys' stated belief that he intended to resume his career with them. "Until it is resolved, Henson is not free to talk to any other club without the consent of Ospreys," one sports lawyer said.Gavin HensonOspreysRugby unionPaul Reesguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
£3m Champions' Day at Ascot is centrepiece of racing fixtures for 2011 • Richest-ever British meeting aims to rival Arc card• Major midweek festivals to switch to weekendBritish racing's fixture list for 2011 finally emerges into the public domain today, two months late yet, in terms of volume, seemingly little different to the current programme. Its detail, though, includes a number of significant changes, including the long-awaited creation of a £3m Champions' Day at Ascot, shifts into the weekend for the Ebor and July festivals, and the branding of a number of top events as races in a British champions' series.The stated long-term ambition of the British Champions' Day at Ascot, to be staged for the first time on 15 October next year, is to rival the prestige of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe weekend in Paris two weeks earlier, and the Breeders' Cup meeting in the United States, which would be expected to fall three weeks afterwards.While the latter two meetings include multiple Group One events, however, the initial count for British Champions' Day is likely to be two, the Champion Stakes, which has been moved from Newmarket, and the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. The other Pattern races on the card – the Group Two Diadem for sprinters, Group Two Pride Stakes for fillies and Group Three Jockey Club Stakes for stayers – will need to attract consistently top-class fields in the hope of reaching Group One status.In an attempt to explain the paths that lead towards Champions' Day, many top races earlier in the season will be branded as part of the British champions' series, which will launch on 30 April 2011 with the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket. It will include five separate championship categories – sprint, mile, middle distance, long distance and fillies and mares – and focus on six of the most important races in each category in an attempt to create easy-to-follow storylines for a broad audience."Champions' Day will be the climax of the series," Karl Oliver, the chief executive of BCS Ltd, said yesterday. "It's not a finals day, you can't do that in racing, but the prize money on offer will make Champions' Day by far the biggest day of the season, with twice as much as the second-biggest."In time, we will certainly be looking to upgrade the remains races [to Group One status] in the normal way via the [European] Pattern committee. It took a while for Arc weekend to get all its main races up to Group One status, and I think we're doing the right thing and that we have the industry right behind us."Newmarket's decision to allow the Champion Stakes to switch to Ascot has been controversial among many of its annual members, but a reciprocal scheme will at least allow Newmarket's members to attend Ascot to watch what used to be "their" race. Ascot's annual members, meanwhile, will gain free entry to a new Future Champions' Day at Newmarket on 8 October, which will include several of the season's most important races for two-year-olds. This card will also stage the historic Cesarewitch Handicap, while the Group One Fillies' Mile, previously staged at Ascot, moves to a Newmarket fixture in late September.Overall, there will be only 23 fewer fixtures in 2011 compared to the record total of 1,503 in 2010. There are 898 Flat meetings and 582 over jumps, down from 913 and 590 respectively.Ruth Quinn, the director of racing for the British Horseracing Authority, said yesterday that no further significant shifts into Saturday slots are likely until the negotiations surrounding the sport's media rights contracts are concluded prior to 2013. "I suspect that there won't be much more movement to Saturday afternoons until then," Quinn said. "The big festival meetings that are left in midweek are very successful and strong and we all love them dearly."There may well be further discussions about [the] Cheltenham [Festival], but other than that, we will have to wait and see if something exciting develops [from 2013] that makes it worth racing's while."Horse racingAscotGreg Woodguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Ascension Insurance buys Summit America Insurance Kansas City-based Ascension Insurance Inc. has acquired Summit America Insurance. feeds.bizjournals.com |
Spinners leave Australia facing defeat • India 495; Australia 478 & 202-7• Pragyan Ojha and Harbhajan Singh shine for IndiaIndia's spinners combined to put the hosts on top at the end of the fourth day of the second Test against Australia in Bangalore. At stumps Australia were 202 for seven in their second innings, leading by 185 runs with a day remainingPragyan Ojha took three wickets and Harbhajan Singh two, leaving the tourists facing a 2-0 series defeat. On a day when Sachin Tendulkar reached 200 for the sixth time in Tests, Ricky Ponting emerged as Australia's saving grace, his 72 off 117 balls boosting their hopes of levelling the series.Shane Watson and Simon Katich gave Australia a solid start, putting on a 58-run stand at nearly five an over, but spin soon brought India back. First Ojha trapped Watson leg before for 32 and then, three deliveries later, Harbhajan's flighted delivery found Katich's outside edge and he was caught behind for 24.Ojha then sent back Michael Clarke for three, stumped by the wicketkeeper, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, but Ponting steadied the ship, taking charge of proceedings either side of tea and building a 61-run fourth-wicket partnership with Mike Hussey.Hussey ended up being Ojha's third victim of the day, trapped leg before for 20, and Marcus North did not last long, bowled by a teasing Harbhajan delivery for only three. But Ponting remained largely unperturbed, going past his 55th half-century with two successive boundaries off Harbhajan and, with wicketkeeper Tim Paine, frustrated the home side despite a barrage of appeals.However, the Australia captain's innings was brought to a halt by Zaheer Khan, who trapped Ponting leg before, and only a few overs before stumps Shantha Sreesanth got rid of Paine, who had worked his way to a patient 23.Nathan Hauritz (eight) and Mitchell Johnson (seven) remained at the crease at stumps.Earlier, Tendulkar started day four on 191 – with India resuming on 435 for five. However, Peter George ensured a memorable debut, making Tendulkar (214) his first Test victim and triggering a spate of wickets which saw India bowled out for 495, a lead of only 17.India Cricket TeamAustralia cricket teamCricketguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
A domain of its own: When a subsidiary deserves its own website A domain of its own: When a subsidiary deserves its own website feeds.bizjournals.com |